Experimentation

After having our planned fourteen-mile run thwarted by Mother Nature, we called an audible the next day.  Instead of doing the fourteen as intended, A suggested that instead we try a training exercise he just read about in a running magazine I brought home from work.

It's a pretty basic interval: run a mile, walk a minute.  Even though we haven't run longer than twelve miles thus far in this marathon training cycle, hoping the walking breaks would give us more stamina, we set out to cover eighteen miles yesterday morning.

My hope was that the miles would be run at pace or faster.  This turned out not to be the case.  The miles got progressively slower and on average were about fifteen-seconds off  what we would need to run to make our goal.  A thought it was because it took us time to build up speed after our minute walks.  I thought it was because the route had a lot of elevation gain.  The truth is probably because we were just tired.

I found myself both desperate for the walking breaks but also dreading them.  I was disheartened by how long the miles felt and how quickly the minute melted away.  By the end of our eighteen-mile trek, I was both mentally and physically sore.  My lower back was in revolt.  My reserves, which I thought were so well stocked with an enormous Thanksgiving meal and equally enormous leftovers, were depleted.  My mental focus, questionable.

Despite the struggle, A felt the experiment was a success.  We went from twelve to eighteen miles in a week.  Strangely, including our sixteen minutes walking, our pace was faster than our previous marathon - by a lot.  And it broke up a training routine which gets stale quickly.  Who knows if we'll do another interval run like this again, but it was definitely worth a try.

We Are Not Warriers

We have a friend named Jean who likes to give A a good ribbing every now and then.  It's hysterical, and it's not like she's unqualified to dish it since she's a sixty-year old woman who's hiked the Himalayas and just came back from the top of Mount Whitney.

Jean's main jab towards A is his dislike for running in cold rain.  "Come on, ya wimp!"

Well, yesterday on our planned fourteen-miler, it was pouring down and really cold.  We got out of the car and walked one block, then bailed and headed back indoors.

A ended up running four miles at the gym.  Curious about how I would fare if it happened to be raining on race day, I ran around our neighborhood for about four and half miles.  I was wearing a raincoat and long sleeves, which kept the rain from soaking me, but also trapped in my sweat.  I tried to avoid as many puddles as possible, but my shoes were soggy by halfway through.  I learned that running in the rain is tougher mentally more than phsyically, but it was encouraging to know that at least, for me, it was doable.  In fact, the worst part of my run was the finish when I realized I grabbed the wrong keys and had to wait another thirty minutes outside for A to come back from his warm and dry gym.

I can't wait to tell Jean how I ran in the rain while A stayed warm on the treadmill.  I can already here her telling him: "Ya wimp!"

Articles Galore

I have been not very prolific on this blog as of late.  I was traveling overseas earlier this month in what we shall call inclement weather.  And then I felled by a mild cold.  But through all this time, there have been a few great articles I wanted to share.

The first was written by a guy who signed up to be a guide for a blind woman running the New York marathon.  Their finishing time was amazing!  It made me think of the blind runner and her guide I saw a few times in Central Park.  They ran so fast and in sync, it was quite a display of trust and athleticism.  Pretty incredible athletes all around…

The next article made me laugh.  It’s about a coyote taking the field during a high school state championship.  It brought to mind a few Man Vs. X races I’ve read about:

Man versus Horse

Man versus Cheese

Man versus Robot

I don’t know if anyone has tried Man versus Housecat, but I have half a mind to hold one down my hallway and post the results.

Almost Famous

Just thought I’d share this promotional video for the Tahoe relay race we ran this past summer.  A makes a very brief cameo early on (brief because he was running so lightning fast, of course).

A Real Charmer

I overheard this nugget from my not-exactly-in-shape-in-fact-pretty-damn-doughy coworker yesterday:

“In college I ran three miles in eighteen minutes.  Eighteen minutes!  Can you imagine?  I mean, that’s six minutes per mile.  That’s insane.  Like, that’s almost pro-level.  Do you even realize how fast that really is?  That’s, like, unbelievably fast.”

At least it was a break from him screaming at his auto mechanic on the phone or quoting FOX News around the office.

It Was a Good Ten-Mile Run

…too bad we were running twelve.  I lost steam on the eleventh mile yesterday and never got it back.  Since having a great ten-miler about a month ago, I can’t seem to stay strong past that distance.  Our subsequent eleven and twelve-mile runs have both ended rather poorly.  I’ll feel okay till the ten-mile marker, then my body starts hurting, negative thoughts abound, and the rhythm falls apart.  Now I’m left wondering how best to proceed in order to build confidence in the weeks ahead because our distances are only going to get longer.

In honor of the New York City Marathon this weekend, the author Haruki Murakami posted a quote from his book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running on Facebook:  “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

I just need to keep reminding myself I can opt out.

Tricky Treading Through Trick-or-Treating

On our run last night we saw superheroes, cartoon characters, a ballerina, a lady bug, a skeleton, and two halves of an open-faced peanut butter and jelly sandwich walking their dogs.

We also saw a young man dressed as a pothead biking recklessly in high-speed traffic.  His costume came complete with skunk aromatics for a remarkably realistic effect.

We ourselves must have been inadvertently dressed as moving targets because the number of cars that almost ran us over was at an all-time high.  You would think that the presence of young trick-or-treaters would make people drive more cautiously, but the increased number of pedestrians only seemed to make drivers more impatient and aggressive.

Fortunately we survived six miles of zombies, goblins and rabid motorists.  Maybe next Halloween I’ll avoid the candy and skip the run.